If I recall, 4 votes would not have changed the outcome of the last attempt at passing the background check bill. I also don't understand why they are pushing so hard for this when only a very small percentage of Americans feel that it should be a top political priority right now.

Edit: Found this on an old thread during the time of voting:

Quote:

Manchin-Toomey amendment #715. Failed 54-46

Grassley substitute amendment consistent with the summary which is at the desk; Failed 52-48

I really just don't believe him. Why would any Senator want to redo the vote? Rehashing it would be no-win. They would have to go on the record again on a controversial (at best) issue, we're closer to election season, and the bill has zero chance in the House. So a couple Senators change their vote.

Much easier to double-talk your way around your vote during the campaign than go vote again and give the other side - whichever that is - more talking points to use against you.

By Nov 2014 many gun owners might otherwise forget the hubbub caused by gun grabber attempts this year. But Joey Two Shots seems determined to keep reminding us how desperately they want to take away our guns. Keep it up VP.

I also don't understand why they are pushing so hard for this when only a very small percentage of Americans feel that it should be a top political priority right now.

I believe that something more intriguing is happening: the administration is using it as a club to enforce internal party discipline precisely because it's not high on the priority list of most middle-of-the-road voters. They're playing to the party faithful. I think the administration senses that the current disunity and infighting in the Republican Party gives them an opportunity to pass some of the more audacious programs they want, and they have decided to abandon the pretense of trying to cooperate with the Right.

I think the national Democratic leadership is sending a message to their own troops, and the message is this: "If the President tells you to vote a certain way on a controversial issue, you had better fall in line, or be prepared for us to throw you under the bus like we did to Kelly Ayotte." Note that Ayotte is not up for reelection until 2016, so the current tempest (in-a-teapot) is unlikely to ultimately harm her chances for reelection, but it's certainly made enough waves inside the Beltway to get the attention of every Democrat.

[Edit... this is what happens when I post on a Monday...]

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"Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules... MARK IT ZERO!!" - Walter Sobchak

Ayotte is a Republican, so she would be a bad choice to throw under the bus to get Democrats in line

Biden has no shame. He is quite willing to lie openly for even minor reasons and even when it is widely apparent he is lying. So you kind of have to take what he says with a grain of salt.

The only "No" vote I can see flipping is Reid who voted no for procedural reasons. Otherwise, no Senator is going to flip. If a Senator voted to ban firearms or magazines and then changed their vote before 2014, would you guve them a pass? Flipping now will only lose the support of gun owners without gaining any love from the antis. It is literally career-suicide. Biden should know this but I question whether he isn't senile.

Quote:

Really? Which four would those be? Because Ayotte isn't budging, and Baucus (who's soon to retire) isn't, either.

Biden doesn't have anything to lose. If he claimed he had some epiphany and suddenly supported us, nobody would believe him. He knows he's not getting anything from us.

As such, he can peddle the gun-control agenda all he wants. It gets him attaboys from some of the folks in his camp, but in the balance of things, he can't really hurt his political chances more than he already has.

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Sometimes it’s nice not to destroy the world for a change.
--Randall Munroe

I think part of the reason Biden is making noise about this is an attempt to divert attention away from three developing scandals -- Benghazi, IRS investigations, and, possibly, DOJ wiretaps of AP reporters. I know we don't do politics here so I'm not going to discuss those. I'm just pointing out that the administration has every reason to divert the press right now.

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Jim's Rules of Carry: 1. Any gun is better than no gun. 2. A gun that is reliable is better than a gun that is not. 3. A hole in the right place is better than a hole in the wrong place. 4. A bigger hole is a better hole.

Honesty, if I were a politician who wanted gun control, my advice to Biden would be to let it go for now and wait for the next crisis to push it again.

This is my concern as well. It's doubly a concern to me as our side hasn't done enough to promote the actual solution to mass shootings and much gun crime.

Unfortunately, there will most likely be another big horrible shooting and the person who perpetrates it will probably be very similar to most of the others. That's where the solution lays. The mentally ill/disturbed need to be kept away from guns and innocent people.

If we don't offer up our own solution, next time it happens, they will scream at our side and say that we have done nothing and offered nothing and demand (unfortunately perhaps with the public's support) that we meet them "halfway" and agree to "common sense" gun control.

The tin-foil hat cynic in me worries that the next big tragedy is gonna be really soon, considering all of the flak the administration is getting from AP, IRS, and Benghazi.

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I told the new me,
"Meet me at the bus station and hold a sign that reads: 'Today is the first day of the rest of your life.'"
But the old me met me with a sign that read: "Welcome back."
Who you are is not a function of where you are. -Off Minor

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Ecclesiastes 12:13 -CENSORED-¶Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 -CENSORED-For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

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